The White Pelican 



alternately loafed and fished in idyllic indolence and in utter disregard 

 of the claims of posterity. It was like a yacht-meet; and although there 

 was no racing, a landsman got the same impression of being surrounded by 

 the masters of a strange medium, sea-creatures, shamelessly and gloriously 

 white. If we paddled toward the birds in a leaky skiff which served our 

 photographic needs, the nearest members of the company took slow alarm, 



Taken in Merced County 



A LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS 



Photo by the Author 



rose, and settled with their fellows farther up the bay. Just before sunset, 

 without further provocation, the entire regiment would take wing with a 

 muffled roar very inspiriting to the ornithological ear. 



A second picture is of a company of birds which gathered daily in 

 midwinter at Potholes below the big Laguna Dam, in the Colorado River. 

 There were shoals here, midstream, where the birds could rest — great, 

 comfortable-looking creatures that they were; and as for fish, the neigh- 

 boring pools were evidently swarming with fish whose upward course had 

 been arrested by the dam. The waters from the spillway roared, the dam 

 itself proclaimed the arrogance of man, the arbiter of destinies, but the 

 gleaming birds spoke only of elemental peace. 



The third picture is of a company of birds, a hundred or so, who, 

 having come west, perhaps through the San Gorgonio Pass, were daunted 

 by the splendor of Pasadena and the distant immanence of still more 

 dreadful Los Angeles, and who sought escape to the upper deserts. From 

 a back porch in Altadena I saw the birds rise in majestic circles until 



1963 



